IOWA CITY - The air was a comfortable place for Cedar Rapids Prairie for one half of football Friday night.

In the first half against Iowa City High, Prairie threw for 224 yards. However, there was a problem for the Prairie Hawks: Iowa City High was more comfortable in the end zone than Prairie.

Iowa City High rushed for 308 yards and topped Prairie, 44-14, at Bates Field in a Mississippi Valley Conference game that ended Prairie's hopes of making the Class 4A playoffs.

The Little Hawks (7-2) will host Cedar Rapids Kennedy (5-4) in the opening round of the playoffs Wednesday night at 7.

Prairie (2-7) scored on the first drive of the game, but nearly 3 1/2 quarters went by before the next Prairie touchdown.

The Hawks threw early and threw often as quarterback Jace Hanna attemped 29 passes in the first half alone. But they couldn’t capitalize on the yards they were getting.

“They caused some problems for us inside and that is obviously what stopped us from getting our run game going,” said Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey. “We were going to try and spread them out a little and see if we could get some matchups on the edge in our passing game.

"It worked for a while and we were able to sustain some of the pressure initially, then they started bringing guys on blitzes and they were able to get to Jace a little bit.”

Hanna, who was coming off a concussion two weeks ago, was injured at the end of the first half and did not return after the halftime intermission. The Prairie Hawks did not look the same in the second half.

“It hurt,” said Morrissey. “But it hurt more from a standpoint of seeing a kid who already has a head injury get beat up a little bit.

"He got dinged a little bit, and that is something that is unfortunately part of the game, but you just pray that things like that don’t happen.”

In the second half, Prairie was stagnant without Hanna and City High continued to be relentless on the ground.

The Little Hawks (7-2) got 283 combined rushing yards from Ronald Thompson and quarterback Jasper Washington. Thompson rushed for two touchdowns and Washington added three more on the ground and one through the air.

“They are tough,” said Morrissey. “They are an athletic football team and are big up front and they just cause some major matchup problems.

"They do a really nice job, they have a great football team over there and I am sure they will have some more success.”

However, things looked like they were going to go Prairie’s direction from the start. The Hawks took the first drive and went 84 yards for an authoritative touchdown. Hanna hit 5-of-7 passes for all 84 yards and found Jarred Edmonds for a 24-yard score.

Edmonds, who had an exceptional game, was Hanna’s favorite target and found gaping holes in the City High secondary. “Jarred Edmonds played very well tonight,” said Morrissey, who ended his first season as Prairie's coach with two wins in the last three games.

“He had a number of catches in the first half and he has been very consistent for us all season long. He’s a great kid and it is going to be fun watching him mature as we go on here as well.”

Edmonds had 10 grabs for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

After Prairie’s initial score, City High pounded the ball on the ground and found a steady rhythm between Thompson and Washington. This allowed them to score seven times unanswered.

The continuous clock was set into place at the beginning of the fourth quarter when City High kicker Drew Cornwell hit a 31-yard field goal for a 44-7 lead.

Edmonds grabbed a 21-yard score from backup quarterback Peyton Wagner with four minutes left in the game.

IOWA CITY HIGH 44, PRAIRIE 14

Iowa City High   14  14  13  3 - 44
Prairie                7    0   0   7 - 14

CRP: Jared Edmunds 24 pass from Hanna (Austin Reutzel kick)
ICH: Jasper Washington 31 run (Drew Cornwell kick)
ICH: Steve Ferentz 23 pass from Washington (Cornwell kick)
ICH: Ronald Thompson 30 run (Cornwell kick)
ICH: Ronald Thompson 19 run (Cornwell kick)
ICH: Washington 30 run (Cornwell kick)
ICH: Washington 10 run (kick failed)
ICH: Cornwell 31 FG
CRP: Edmunds 21 pass from Peyton Wagner (Reutzel kick)

Team Stats

First Downs -- CRP 16, ICH 19
Rushes Yards -- CRP 28-55, ICH 31-308
Receiving Yards -- CRP 244, ICH 90
Comp-Att-Int -- CRP 18-31-2, ICH 9-14-0
Punts-avg. -- CRP 4-27, ICH 2-34.5
Penalties-yards -- CRP 1-5, ICH 4-35

Individual Statistics

Rushing--
CRP: Demetrius Harper 3-45, Zach Witte 6-10, Tristian Beyer 3-7, Austin Reutzel 1-5, Carson Goodale 1-3, Conor Mittauer 1-2, Cameron Rathje 5-minus 1, Jace Hanna 6-minus 18.
ICH: Ronald Thompson 9-175, Jasper Washington 8-108, Amos Lavela 4-9, Kody Dailey 1-5, Isaiah Washpun 7-4, Eric Kenney 1-4, Tyler Stika 1-2.

Passing--
CRP: Hanna 17-29-2 224, Wagner 1-2-0 21 ICH: Washington 6-9-0 60, Stika 3-4-0 30.

Receiving--
CRP: Jared Edmunds 10-181, Harper 6-42, Beyer 1-16, Austin Dellamuth 1-5.
ICH: Jeremy Johnson 5-37, Steve Ferentz 1-23, Desmond McCalla 1-17, Eric Kenney 1-10, Christian Pinnell 1-3.